David Andrews on Patriots’ offensive struggles: ‘Can’t let today or any day derail anything in the future’

Through 10 training camp practices, the New England Patriots’ offense has not gotten off to the best start. After yet another day that did no go there way on Monday, veteran center David Andrews gathered the offense at mid-field, appearing to give the unit a rather fiery speech.

“It’s just part of it, there’s up and downs of training camp. Just got to go in and learn from it, see what you can do better,” Andrews said after the session. “Can't let today or any day derail anything in the future, that just how it goes — wins, losses, you just got to stay steady. You can't go up and down.”

The struggles throughout the summer have been consistent. The run game has been non-existent, the defense is consistently in the backfield, and the quarterbacks are holding the ball for extended periods of time or running for their lives.

The results have been almost zero offensive production.

Much of the blame has been shifted to new offensive scheme, which has featured a bevy of zone-runs early on. While the Patriots have always had zone-runs in their playbook, the scheme differs from their traditional gap-scheme.

With new responsibilities up front, the offensive line has struggled. Besides not being able to run the ball, the Patriots’ passing attack has been night-and-day in 7-on-7s compared to 11-on-11s, perhaps indicating their is a disconnect of sort up front.

“Nothing looks as good as it does the first couple of weeks and you just got to keep moving forward and keep pushing,” Andrews explained. “Look, the thing is not to be the best week one. Obviously you want to go out there and win and compete but it's that steady incline throughout the year, that’s when you really have the success.”

To achieve long-term success, communication will play a key role. After Mac Jones stressed the importance of communication among the group last week, Andrews also pointed to that as a key factor.

“Everything ties in together, starts with communication,” he said. “Everybody being on the same page, knowing what to do and going out there and [executing].”

The Patriots still have over a month until their first regular season game, so it’s important to not draw any conclusions in August. With a new offensive scheme, growing pains were more than expected. For the offense, they know the work they have to do to reach their goals.

“We have to go in and get it corrected,” Andrews said afterward. “We just have to try to move forward. It’s all just part of the process. He have to learn from it. We’re all striving to get better each day.”